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Tag Archive: conflict of interests

OPINIONby Tim O’Dwyer M.A., LL.BSolicitorConsumer Advocate watchdog@argonautlegal.com.au Agents might heed the Appeal Panel’s general warning to be “especially careful” that buyers are informed of material matters not discoverable through “undertaking usual enquiries,” and to be wary of not disclosing anything “particularly unusual” about a property. STORY ONE FROM QUEENSLAND: When Chris and Mary Carr went house‑hunting they noticed tradesmen working on one of the houses they inspected. “The owners are still preparing the property...

OPINIONby Peter Mericka B.A., LL.BReal Estate LawyerQualified Practising Conveyancer VictoriaDirector Lawyers Real Estate Pty Ltd There is little doubt that the real estate industry in Victoria is the most corrupt in Australia. This is largely due to the power and arrogance of the Real Estate Institute of Victoria (REIV). The recent dismissal of Mr. John Keating from the REIV ethics committee is an example of the contempt the REIV has for ethical conduct, and...

OPINIONby Chris WarrenLicenced Real Estate Agent Chris@RemaxColonial.com.au Chris Warren is a Licensed Real Estate agent with over 20 years’ experience, providing real estate services to consumers on Brisbane’s inner southside. He was recently quoted in a submission to the Estate Agents Council of Victoria concerning real estate agent appraisals and the pricing of real estate, and wrote this article in response to a request for his opinion on the problems associated with the valuing...

by Peter Mericka B.A., LL.BReal Estate LawyerQualified Practising Conveyancer VictoriaDirector Lawyers Real Estate Pty Ltd We now have the REIV inventing, and forcing its own legislation on real estate consumers. When will journalists, regulators, lawyers and consumers start thinking for themselves instead of simply watching Enzo Raimondo and the crew at the Real Estate Institute of Victoria (REIV) make fools of them. It’s time to put vendors and purchasers back in control, and to...

OPINIONby Tim O’Dwyer M.A., LL.BSolicitorConsumer Advocate watchdog@argonautlegal.com.au Former corruption investigator Tony Fitzgerald QC and former premier Wayne Goss recently charged that Queensland’s Beattie and Bligh governments had let the state slide back into its “dark past”. “Ethics are always tested by incumbency”, explained Fitzgerald. “The longer any side of politics is in power, the more risk cobwebs will settle”, Goss added. Both agreed that standards had slipped during 11 years of Labor government –...

OPINIONby Peter Mericka B.A., LL.BReal Estate LawyerQu alified Practising Conveyancer VictoriaDirector Lawyers Real Estate Pty Ltd Following on from my previous posting in which I acknowledged Enzo Raimondo, CEO of the Real Estate Institute of Victoria (REIV) as a master of the partial-truth, comes a newspaper article in which Raimondo confirms that “Much misinformation is abroad about property sales” (sic). Of course, Raimondo does not acknowledge his own role in the dissemination of this...

OPINIONby Tim O’Dwyer M.A., LL.BSolicitorConsumer Advocate watchdog@argonautlegal.com.au Acting for both parties is an unwise, high-risk practice for solicitors and their trusting clients. It should be prohibited absolutely by law. Brisbane solicitor Richard Ebbott is mentioned twice in real estate rebel Neil Jenman’s book, DON’T SIGN ANYTHING! Jenman describes how Ebbott handled the conveyancing for two Sydney clients who lost more than $50,000 each after buying two overpriced Brisbane townhouses. Then four years later Ebbott...

OPINIONby Tim O’Dwyer M.A., LL.BSolicitorConsumer Advocate watchdog@argonautlegal.com.au Harcourts real estate agent, Lester Drew, in a recent letter to the editor of Queensland’s Courier Mail criticised an earlier column in that newspaper about selling real estate. Drew pointed out in his letter (as published) that columnist Scott Pape was a financial advisor, was not a “registered member” of the Real Estate Institute of Queensland and was “not professionally qualified as deemed by the State Government...

by Tim O’Dwyer M.A., LL.BSolicitorConsumer Advocate watchdog@argonautlegal.com.au After firing more than a few verbal bullets over recent months at Queensland’s Attorney-General (and Fair Trading Minister) Kerry Shine in The Courier Mail and Gold Coast Bulletin newspapers, on ABC radio and here in the Australian Real Estate Blog, I finally got a response (of sorts). The critical issues, of course, had been the largely unregulated role of legally unqualified real estate agents in the preparation...

by Peter Mericka B.A., LL.BReal Estate Lawyer Qualified Practising Conveyancer VictoriaDirector Lawyers Real Estate Pty Ltd As any lawyer or conveyancer will confirm, a contract may have to be cancelled for a variety of reasons, even after it has become unconditional. But what if the estate agent has already spent the commission? Lawyers and conveyancers often have a battle on their hands if a purchaser client needs to cancel the contract, or a vendor...